Another CNC Mill (Not) in Garage Question

darkrei9n · May 23, 2020

So on Friday I had a nice, shiny (From all the coolant that somehow managed to get everywhere, not because it was actually clean), used Hurco VM10UHSi show up. Planned everything perfectly. Shipper showed up at 8:40, did his paperwork, riggers showed up right on time at 9 and got that sucker off of there in 10 minutes to let the shipper go on their way. Everything was going fine right up until we tried to put said machine in the garage. The machine was not 73" with the head all the way down. It was 90". 86" from the feet to the casting, then about another 4" for the electrical cabinet and arm for the control. Figured I would be spending hours on that I sent the riggers home.

Now I need to figure out how to get this beneath the garage door. I could cut into the header, but there is the potential that it is load bearing. I tried taking the machine apart, but that starts getting into really risky territory. Not sure what to do now. Tuesday I'm gonna call up Foothills Machinery and see if they can take it apart and also call a carpenter to see if they can cut a hole out in the header. Anyone got advice for getting this in there that doesn't involve ramming speed?

I_AM_MACHINE · May 23, 2020

How tall is your garage door?

Garwood · May 23, 2020

I doubt there's any low cost option besides you doing all the work yourself to disassemble the machine.

I would look at how tall your ceiling is in the garage. If it happens to be 9 or 10 feet, but you have 7' door then I would suggest you support the ceiling/floor, take out the header and move it up a foot then install an 8 foot door. That way you want have to do whatever option there is twice (when you move it out)

From my experience (installing garage doors for 18 months) 7 foot doors are generally installed in houses built to a price point whereas 8 foot doors are installed in homes built by everyone who knows what they want and isn't worried about spending a tiny bit extra to save a giant headache down the road.

Keep in mind you generally need 12" above the door height for standard radius track. You can get low headroom track, but it is a compromise and the door will never work well.

darkrei9n · May 23, 2020

I_AM_MACHINE said:
How tall is your garage door?

84" pretty much on the dot.

I_AM_MACHINE · May 23, 2020

darkrei9n said:
84" pretty much on the dot.

Sounds like the machine itself might fit if you remove the feet, but it still sounds like you would need to remove the electrical cabinet and maybe the pendant arm. I don't think it would be too difficult as long as you label everything well and take plenty of photos.

As Garwood posted above, it is possible to move the header (although it definitely is load-bearing), but I bet that will be expensive. However, he makes a good point about that solving the problem if and when you decide to move and the machine has to come back out.

Nice machine, by the way!

DavidScott · May 23, 2020

Move the header up a foot or so and fill in below it with a dummy wall section you can remove, the dummy wall doesn't have to be the full span. Yes the header is load bearing but from looking at your photos I bet you could remove it and nothing would happen.

Any chance you have your homes bluprints?

13engines · May 23, 2020

Most machines are going to have lifting points built into the main castings that they use at the factory. You might have to pull back some Y axis covers to get to some of them. Probably three or four points all depending. You could bring in a crane or some guys that really know how to handle a forklift and pick the thing up and tilt it back enough to get it under the door while having the low edge on machine rollers. The tricky part would be standing it up in a controlled manner once inside the building. You should have asked the machine movers if they had any brilliant ideas before they left. Or suggest an idea like this to them and see if they hmmm about it or straight out laugh in your face. Ya never know. Most experienced machine movers have run into plenty of crazy situations and still managed to pull it off. It might cost you but...

moonlight machine · May 23, 2020

DavidScott said:
Move the header up a foot or so and fill in below it with a dummy wall section you can remove, the dummy wall doesn't have to be the full span. Yes the header is load bearing but from looking at your photos I bet you could remove it and nothing would happen.

Any chance you have your homes bluprints?

Just have your favorite construction company raise the house and lay in another course of block, set the house down and your golden!

ripperj · May 23, 2020

First thing I would do is spend some time figuring out if the wall is load bearing. If the joists run left to right looking in the garage from the outside, the wall is unlikely to be load bearing . Super easy to validate from the inside , use a drywall saw and make an inspection hole, see if there is a Microllam or similar beam.
Much cheaper to pay a siding guy, vice a machine tech, if you can’t do either yourself. I picked up a beat up siding brake years ago for like $300 and have used it a lot. If you are careful you will be able to reuse the siding and even the trim flashing.
I’m posting this from my couch, so obviously not there to actually see what you are dealing with

Edit: all this assumes that it’s a gable end wall

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ChipSplitter · May 23, 2020

Don't forget, someday you will want to take it OUT again too.......

Whether you sell the house or your grandkids get it, do you really want to give the machine with it?

Crazy, maybe, but something to think about.

countryboy1966 · May 23, 2020

Will the machine fit in the garage with the head all the way up?

Sounds messed up, but on a Holiday weekend and that kind of equipment sitting in my drive, I probably would cut concrete with creative rigging to get it in if I was missing by just inches.

darkrei9n · May 23, 2020

I_AM_MACHINE said:
Sounds like the machine itself might fit if you remove the feet, but it still sounds like you would need to remove the electrical cabinet and maybe the pendant arm. I don't think it would be too difficult as long as you label everything well and take plenty of photos.

As Garwood posted above, it is possible to move the header (although it definitely is load-bearing), but I bet that will be expensive. However, he makes a good point about that solving the problem if and when you decide to move and the machine has to come back out.

Nice machine, by the way!

I'm thinking get some friends, and try to remove everything electrical without disconnecting anything. Take off servos, control, and electrical cabinet as one piece with friends. That just leaves the ATC and some enclosure stuff.

countryboy1966 said:
Will the machine fit in the garage with the head all the way up?

Sounds messed up, but on a Holiday weekend and that kind of equipment sitting in my drive, I probably would cut concrete with creative rigging to get it in if I was missing by just inches.

It will definitely fit in the garage at least. If not I'll have an escape hatch underneath my bed to the garage.

Kingbob · May 24, 2020

Well any updates? This is a real drama, looking forward to seeing how you overcome this.

Ianagos · May 24, 2020

Did you measure the machine before you bought it? I think you best best is just pay someone and get a 8ft garage door put in and spray the machine down in lps 3 and tarp it for the couple weeks it’s gonna take.

darkrei9n · May 24, 2020

Kingbob said:
Well any updates? This is a real drama, looking forward to seeing how you overcome this.

I'm currently waiting until monday to try and call the Hurco servicer for my area to see how much itll cost to take this thing apart and put it back together. Also getting a quote for someone to put a hole in the garage header for this to slip on in. The other plan is go make new friends, and try to take off the servos, electrical cabinet, and control off as one giant piece in order to avoid rewiring anything. That would remove almost all the problems.

Ianagos said:
Did you measure the machine before you bought it? I think you best best is just pay someone and get a 8ft garage door put in and spray the machine down in lps 3 and tarp it for the couple weeks it’s gonna take.

Had a layout drawing but apparently it meant max height of the enclosure and the max working height. Not anything in between that doesnt move...

Tony Quiring · May 24, 2020

Lower the floor...

A city near here got a new fire engine but it was too tall to fit...

Lowered the floor...

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Phil in Montana · May 24, 2020

Keep in mind what goes in has to (someday) come out, and it might be your wife or son in law in charge doing the job... I would add a new header and a taller door...Phil

Kingbob · May 24, 2020

Tony Quiring said:
Lower the floor...

A city near here got a new fire engine but it was too tall to fit...

Lowered the floor...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

That does seem like the simplest (least skilled labor) way. Shops do isolation pads all the time for machines, this way the entire garage floor is an isolation pad.

Break up the floor, haul out the chunks, dig it down a few inches and pour a new pad.

ss_user · May 24, 2020

Kingbob said:
That does seem like the simplest (least skilled labor) way. Shops do isolation pads all the time for machines, this way the entire garage floor is an isolation pad.

Break up the floor, haul out the chunks, dig it down a few inches and pour a new pad.

The only positive to that is that you get to define the strength of the floor. Mazak recommended 12" of concrete for my V5. Serious overkill
What it got was ~5" of well cured concrete with as grid of #4 bar on 2' centers. But then that floor was planned as a wood shop floor. If I had to do it over I'd probably go 6" of 6 sack with a slump of 2.5 and plasticize to 6. That will not make you popular with the concrete guys but it does give them about an hour of working time before the plasticizer loses it's effect. That mix should give you close to about 4850 psi after with a 30 day cure. Which brings up the issue of waiting for the concrete to cure. You don't want that (expensive) floor to crack moving the machine in.
Wood is way cheaper to work with. I cut out concrete stem wall and a lot of wood to get clearance for my Mazak. A 15,000 lb forklift and some chain from the forks to the lift points and we were thru the opening. Set it down on 1.5" steel bar rollers and pushed it into place. Rebuilt the wall. The whole thing is arranged so a Sawsall (recip) will break it loose when the time comes. Remember it is just $$$. ;-)
Projects like this are always fun.
Good luck.

G00 Proto · May 24, 2020

Rent a shop and be in business. After 10 years of working from home, I'm sick of it. Either never 100% at home or never 100% at work. The wife hates it, mostly because she has to see me way too often... trucks roll in at 5 AM... customers drop by around dinner... zoning nightmares. I can rent a thousand square feet of shop space for $500... $60k over ten years. Have you priced out a divorce lately. That shit is expensive.

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